


Sandcastle Showdown

by LuckyZiri



Category: BNA: Brand New Animal (Anime)
Genre: Day At The Beach, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Mild Spoilers, One Shot, Platonic Relationships, Post canon, Sandcastles, Summer, no beta we die like Ogami, slightly implied Michizuna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26479642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyZiri/pseuds/LuckyZiri
Summary: Michiru and Nazuna have a sandcastle building competition and force Shirou to judge.[platonic one-shot]
Relationships: Hiwatashi Nazuna & Kagemori Michiru, Hiwatashi Nazuna & Kagemori Michiru & Ogami Shirou, Hiwatashi Nazuna & Ogami Shirou, Kagemori Michiru & Ogami Shirou
Comments: 13
Kudos: 80





	Sandcastle Showdown

**Author's Note:**

> A quick thing based on[ this prompt. ](https://dailyau.tumblr.com/post/629249667564290048/your-sandcastle-is-pathetic-beach-au) Thanks for reading!

If there was one thing Michiru knew she was good at, it was winning. Through sheer determination and willpower, she could always come out on top if she just set her mind to it.

Well. In sports…yeah. Usually. Sometimes.

Maybe not a sandcastle competition. That she instigated. And insisted she would win. Even though she’d never been good at art and had no clue how to even make one that wasn’t cliche.

She crouched on the beach, tossing water into a fake moat she’d tried to dig around her sandcastle. It was taking _forever,_ and out of the corner of her eye, she could make out Nazuna already making hers _waaay_ taller. And prettier. And fancier.

Michiru growled and glared at her own piece. It was blocky and malformed, barely resembled anything. What had made her think she could do this?

A shadow fell over her. “Your sandcastle is pathetic.”

“Eh?” Michiru glanced up. Shirou stood over her, rolling the ice in the tea he’d bought from the nearest food stand. For their beach outing—which had taken a _lot_ of convincing to get him to even agree to do—he’d shed his usual dark clothes for a white t-shirt and beige cargo shorts. He was even shoeless! It didn’t fit him at all, and all day Michiru had found herself doing a double-take when she spoke to him.

She huffed and sagged further into the sand. “I knooooow. It looks awful! Nazuna’s is going to be sooo pretty because she loves details. How do you even make a castle pretty? It’s not supposed to be pretty, it’s supposed to be cool!”

Shirou sipped loudly on the tea, which made her wanna smack it out of his hand. “It was your idea in the first place,” he said.

Kuro appeared beside Michiru, head cocked at her mushy mound. He pecked it, then perched at the top like he was a king on a hill.

A lightbulb went off above Michiru’s head. “KURO! That’s a great idea!”

The crow blinked. “Krrr?”

“What’s a great idea?” Shirou squatted beside her—the elusive slav squat actually, something Michiru had been secretly trying to imitate it but her stupid tendons didn’t stretch that far down, dang it.

“I can use Kuro to help me, like, he can shovel sand into buckets and bring them to me, or—Oh! what if I recreated him at the top! That’d be so cool.”

“Or, you could get an adult to help you,” Shirou said, sliding the nearest bucket to her. “Though I think that’s against the rules.”

As if on cue, Nazuna noticed their conspiring. “Hey! Michiru, you said no one was allowed to help us!” She shook her plastic shovel at them, red eyes on fire.

Michiru flinched. “Eheheheh, I did say that.” She shouted back, “No one is helping me! We’re just talking!”

Nazuna planted her hands on her hips. “Uh, more like conspiring! The judge can’t interfere with the process! That’d ruin the _art._ ” She made a dramatic, sophisticated pose, which only made Michiru roll her eyes.

Shirou eyed Michiru “She’s right, you know, but you can keep Kuro for inspiration.”

He stood up and went back to sit on his beach chair, which had been carefully placed under a broad umbrella so he wouldn’t get a sunburn.

Great. Wonderful. Michiru growled again and continued her work, but Kuro stayed with her for moral support. He hopped back and forth, eyeballing her creation as it grew. And it _was_ growing, soon to be almost as tall as her.

It would be epic. Amazing. A castle for the ages!

She kept glancing back at Nazuna though, who was painstakingly carving details into a unicorn she’d sculpted on the side of the castle. Seriously!? A unicorn?! OVERKILL.

Wait…maybe she needed some overkill…

“Kuro!” Michiru pointed at him dramatically, and he perked up. “I need you to model for me!”

The crow nodded, eyes determined, and posed with his wings spread out fiercely.

Perfect.

—

After the two hour deadline, Michiru and Nazuna dragged Shirou out from the safety of his umbrella and forced him to stand as judge for the sandcastles. He’d agreed to it earlier of course, mostly because Michiru called him a jerk and threatened to steal his sunscreen, which was a bluff, but he’d been in the mood to humor her.

He actually did know a thing or two about art, but now he just wanted to go home and sleep. Sand was stuck in places sand should never be, despite how careful he’d been to not roll around in it like the girls so desperately wanted to, but it really was nature’s version of glitter.

“Okay okay okay.” Michiru bounced on the balls of her feet, her poof of a tail bobbing with her. “You remember the judging criteria right?”

He sighed. “Creativity, skill, and theme.”

“See, he does listen.” Michiru grinned, and Nazuna rolled her eyes. “Okay, so Great Judge, what do you think?”

She sidestepped out of the way to reveal her castle. Shirou just stared, lips pursed. Well…it was…something. She really wasn’t an artist, which ultimately made him wonder _why_ she’d even suggested this. Her bullheadedness most likely, or she was subconsciously trying to impress Nazuna.

He walked around it once, twice. She’d gone for a regular castle theme, so not that creative. It was almost as tall as she was though, and had a moat with a little bridge.

And at the top was a…Kuro dragon? He wasn’t quite sure. It sort of resembled Kuro, but had a scaly body and long, serpentine tail.

“If I’d had more time I’d have figured out how to make it breathe fire,” Michiru insisted from behind him.

“Ugh, you can’t make sandcastles do that,” Nazuna said.

“How would you know? You’ve never tried!”

Shirou stepped back and placed a rough hand on Michiru’s head to get her to stand down. “I won’t give my commentary until the end. Let’s look at Nazuna’s.”

At the mention of her name, Nazuna preened, shoulders back and spine straight. “Right this way.”

Nazuna’s castle was definitely superior. The girl might be a snob, but she had an eye for detail and definitely some skills when it came to artistry. Shirou had spent many years with all kinds of artists in his long lifespan, so he knew what to look for, and Nazuna definitely had it.

Her castle followed the same theme as Michiru’s, but instead of edgy, blocky shapes, it was dominated by organic shapes like swirls and leaves. A large unicorn circled the side of a mountain, and even though she’d only had two hours to complete it, she’d still managed to include little vine and ivy designs into the brick of the castle. It was still clear a kid had made it because the general skill wasn’t on par with a professional, but she had talent.

Michiru had pressed up beside him, gaze burning into his skull, and he sighed loudly. “Michiru, you’re not going to force me to pick you just because you do that.”

“If I stare hard enough, it might.”

He placed his palm against her snout and pushed her back, making her yelp. “Okay. Contestants, stand by your creations.”

The girls stood at attention as Shirou stepped back, hand on his chin. Kuro squawked as he landed on his shoulder and narrowed his eyes as if he were judging too.

Maybe he _should_ let the crow judge. If he picked Nazuna—which he clearly should as a proper judge—Michiru would be upset, and he hated doing that. But if he picked Michiru, it’d look like favoritism. He and Nazuna weren’t close, and he’d been unsure of allowing her to join him and Michiru on their beach day trip, but ultimately he’d decided it’d be for the best that Michiru have someone her own age to talk to. (Less obnoxious questions thrown at him, maybe. _Hah_.)

His next sigh was too loud, and he crossed his arms. Michiru would get over it within a day, so what did it matter? “Nazuna is the winner.”

“Yes!” Nazuna pumped her fist into the air while Michiru dramatically collapsed against the beach and beat it with her fists.

“NOOO, Shirou, how could you?! You traitor! I even included Kuro-Dragon just to win you over!”

She sobbed into the sand, and Shirou shook his head. Drama, always drama. He wouldn’t hear the end of this for at least two days.

“Nazuna has better skill and her theme was cohesive,” Shirou explained. “Michiru had creativity and determination, but it just wasn’t enough for me, unfortunately. Though Kuro-Dragon is very funny.”

He said it so deadpan that he didn’t quite believe himself either, but Michiru looked up at him through her crocodile tears and asked, “Really?”

He nodded. “If you’d had more time, I do think you could have gotten him to breathe fire.” He turned to Nazuna, who stiffened under his full attention. “Really, good job. You have talent. I know you’re more into singing, but if you pursued fine arts, I think you’d do great there too.”

She blinked several times, fingers playing with a long lock of hair. “Oh, um, thank you.”

“ _Huuuh?”_ Michiru’s lip curled up in shock. “Shirou, you can give compliments like that? Why don’t I ever get any? It’s always—” She lowered her voice to imitate him. “—Michiru why did you do that? Can’t you use your brain for once, Michiru?”

“Because you’re annoying,” he drawled, and she blew a raspberry at him. “Now, clean up. I’m ready to go home.”

—

They rode back to Anima City on a train, and Michiru and Nazuna chattered the entire way back. At some point, Shirou’s head bonked against Michiru’s, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, only to realize he’d fallen asleep on her. A soft snore escaped his lips.

Oh. Shoot. He really was tired. His knees were probably killing him, because he’d been complaining about that on and off, which she wasn’t used to at first because normally he was extremely good about hiding any pain. The longer they’d been friends, the more she picked up on his signals. Despite being an immortal pseudo-deity whose body could heal all injuries, he still had phantom pains and the occasional aches. She jokingly blamed it on his age, and so far he hadn’t corrected her.

Nazuna giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “Does that happen often?” she whispered.

“Honestly?” Michiru smiled sheepishly. “More often than you’d think. He’s like a dad; he can just fall asleep anywhere. When he doesn’t feel like he has to sleep with one eye open, I mean.”

By the time the train arrived back in town, Shirou still hadn’t woken up, so Michiru had to poke him in the ribs. He didn’t sputter awake like most people, but groaned and sat up slowly, as if he were stiff. He didn’t comment on the fact that he had in fact fallen asleep, but instead motioned for the girls to follow him.

“I gotta get back to my hotel,” Nazuna said once they exited the train. “You know how my manager can be.” She hoisted her beach bag over her shoulder and looked at Michiru shyly. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Uh, yeah, okay. I’m glad you got to hang out with us! It was fun, even though I totally should have won the sandcastle competition.”

“Oh whatever!”

The girls hugged, and when Nazuna broke away, she waved to Shirou. “Bye! Thanks for letting me hang out with you!”

She turned tail a little too fast, long pink hair disappearing into the crowd. Michiru turned back to Shirou, who’d made a face like he was extremely confused.

“She told me bye,” he said.

“Huh? Oh, uh yeah? Because it’s polite? People tend to do that when they leave each other.”

“I didn’t think she liked me.”

 _Ugh, here we go._ They’d had this conversation before Nazuna had even arrived that morning. No, Nazuna didn’t hate Shirou, she never had, she was just nervous around him because he was intimidating and constantly looked like he wanted to murder anyone who spoke to him. Also, he was the one who hadn’t liked her at first—which okay, was also valid—so Nazuna was totally in the right to feel unsure about how to act around him. Even if she had left the Church of the Silver Wolf and apologized for it all. Several times. Twice to Shirou’s face, actually.

But Michiru didn’t repeat all that, because it wasn’t worth it. “You really made her day, you know. Letting her win.”

He blinked at her, brows narrowed. “I didn’t _let_ her win. She deserved it.”

“Ugh, you make no sense!” Michiru punched him in the arm, and he didn’t even flinch. “Come on. I’m hungry. I’m dying for some crepes.”

“You want to eat crepes for supper?” He paused. Scowled. “Why not something like tokoyaki?”

“Because I don’t like octopus!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Normally, she couldn’t get him to move, but he allowed her to drag him away. 

Just this once.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on social media if u want to scream about BNA and MHA stuffs.
> 
> [ Tumblr ](https://rowdyredriot.tumblr.com/) / [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/FaindriArt)


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